


Nightmares

by Arterius_Rising



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Adoption, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Fluff, Married Life, Night Terrors, Nightmares, One Shot, Post-Reapers, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 04:45:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13628862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arterius_Rising/pseuds/Arterius_Rising
Summary: Alive she may be after the hardest fought battle in fifty thousand years, but Shepard is not without her demons. Night terrors which haunt her.Her husband, Garrus and her children come to her aid.(%100 Fluff.)





	Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> Touching only briefly on the struggle which are night terrors. Shepard would surely suffer from them. 
> 
> Tempting to make this into a series, as the kids grow up and with Garrus/Shepard’s married life.

|One-Shot| - Nightmares 

Her dreams were like swimming through murky water in a rain forest. The knotted branches above dulled the sun till every surface and colour it touched turned mute and sickly. Things lurked just below the water, at times brushing her bare legs and arms; flashes of memories come and gone accompanied them. 

Friends faces; both passed and alive. Days leading up to the end. Pressing the button which killed hundreds of thousands. Weeks in a guarded room, knowing the Reapers were on the way. The last push in London, where her lover with sea coloured eyes clasped her, as she did he and they spoke of a future, of children and of death; the bar and whether his heaven was the same as hers. 

Shepard had never been religious much. As a young teenager growing up on the streets, it had not seemed like there was anything looking out for her - of the flesh, or anything otherwise. But then Ash had spoken of it when they had chased Saren, of whether Shepard had minded that she believed. She hadn’t particularly minded though she didn’t understand it, and she had not dwelled on it since, until Garrus had mentioned the afterlife - if there was one. 

It played on her mind, even months after she had been found, recovered and re-united. If...one of them, were to pass on, would they be forever separated? Was turian heaven different from hers? Thane and Mordin, her closest friends - would she not be able to find them on the sands across the sea? Mordin doing his tests upon the shells, and Thane finally sitting in piece, perhaps even with his late wife? 

And Anderson. She still heard the shot from her pistol, saw the slight widening of his dark eyes as it penetrated his stomach. He was gone, and it was her fault - as was Ash, for the same reason. She wondered if she would ever see them again, or would she not be welcome at the gates and instead be sent somewhere darker? 

“Shepard.” 

She knew that voice. Not someone who had gone, someone who was still alive... 

“Shepard!” 

The voice grew more urgent, so she fought harder. Just to open her eyes, to move an inch! 

“SHEPARD!” 

She came awake, laid on her side. The seals clamped around her airways released, enough to loosen the cramps in her muscles. A sharp shadow raised above her, three fingered hand laid upon her shoulder, bare against her skin. His talons were cold compared to the heat of his palm. 

“Shepard, honey.” 

“I’m awake Garrus.” Her voice was rough. She cleared it, as she sat up on her elbow. “What time is it?” He noticed her avoid his eyes. 

“0450 Citadel time.” His hand ran through her hair. She shivered, but relaxed into the gesture. “The dreams again?” 

She sighed, and closed her eyes. Ever since Akuze she’d suffered with nightmares. Only recently they’d become terrors. Preventing her from waking. Trapping her inside her own mind and body. 

Shepard struggled to answer, but was saved from fumbling for words by the small creak of the bedroom door. The lamp of the bedside table didn’t reach as far as the doorway, but Garrus’ sight would be able to penetrate the darkness. Her eyes adjusted, as Garrus rumbled softly. Not an intruder. 

Their daughter. Little Ruben. Her eyes were large in her head, though determined. She strongly gripped her teddy with five fingered hands, a ratty old thing which had lost most of its stuffing, but she refused to let go off. Shepard didn’t mind. Garrus had gotten the teddy for her four years prior, when they’d first adopted Ruben. It meant something to their little girl, and neither of them would ever force her to get rid of it. Even if they did find pieces of him lying around. 

There was a three fingered hand on her shoulder. A navy blue so dark it was black in the low light. Xander, their older son by three years, stood behind her. His mandibles were pulled tight; nervous or unhappy. The shrill from his small vocal cords were nearly inaudible from across the room. 

“I told her not to disturb you.” Xander spoke first. Garrus’ sub-harmonics traveled far louder, and the younger turian dipped his head. He shuffled his feet, as Ruben scoured the bed with her eyes. Shepard smiled at her, aware of the orange glow between the scars on her face, and skin uncovered by her strappy sleeping top. 

“Come on. It’s fine, you two.” 

Ruben was across the room before Xander could lower his hand from her shoulder. She ran into the bottom of the bed with an ‘omph’, then proceeded to climb up the sheets rather well to say one of her hands was preoccupied by her teddy. Garrus shifted the cover for her, and the little human girl snuggled eagerly between them. Her husband chuckled fondly, and brushed Ruben’s hair back from her forehead. 

Xander was more hesitant, but seeing the rest of his family snuggled up, he soon gave in and hurried across the carpet. Specially designed to withstand turians talons on their feet. Shepard opened the cover for him, where he settled on her side, along the edge of the bed. 

“We didn’t wake you, did we?” Shepard asked, as she settled back down. Ruben tucked herself into Shepard’s side, for warmth and comfort. Her little feet burrowed under her side. Xander had already closed his eyes, and laid facing them in order to keep the points of his fringe from poking anyone. Garrus did the same as he curled in on them protectively. 

“Mm,” Ruben murmured. “But it’s okay mommy. Teddy is here now.” 

With a jolt, Shepard realised they’d heard her nightmare. Had she screamed? She let out a shaky breath. Never did she want to put her burdens on her children, but it warmed her damaged heart to know they accepted her. Scars, nightmares and all. Closing her eyes against the tears, she felt Garrus’ forehead press to her temple over Ruben’s head. 

A small three fingered hand clasped her shoulder, and she turned to Xander. His eyes were sapphire blue in the dimlight, turian versions of her own. “It’s okay, mom,” he echoed. 

“Thank you, sweetheart.” She squeezed his hand, before he buried himself deeper into the mattress. Shepard then pressed a kiss to Ruben’s crown. “And you, caterpillar.” Ruben grinned, and wiggled. True to her nickname. 

“Time for sleep, I think.” Garrus reached over to turn the light off. “School in the morning, and it is morning.” 

“Dad!” Ruben complained. She already wasn’t a fan of the Citadel school, but Garrus only chuckled and settled back into his pillow. 

“Grandpa is coming this weekend. You don’t want him to hear about you missing school, do you?” The grandpa excuse always worked. The kids adored Garrus’ father, and surprisingly, Castis had warmed to them as well. Even Ruben. Human or not. 

“M’kay,” she yawned into the darkness. Moments later, their two kids were asleep. Shepard listened to two sets of breathing, calmed by their presence. 

“I love you, Garrus.” She spoke into the darkness. 

“I love you too, Shepard.” He returned, as sure as her heart beat in her chest. 

They both had to rest in unconventional positions, while having two kids who liked to move around, but Shepard wouldn’t have changed it for the world. Her family made all the nightmares worth it.


End file.
